Well played Knghifi. When I see what Richard has done and how he's priced things along the years I'm amazed. He knew the upscale market was growing and his ownership of the lower priced market wasn't going to let him live, so he shifted upscale. Now he has done an awesome job in that market. From the Treo CT on up, he has speakers that will compete and beat most for less money. It's hard not to at least like his 'sound' as it's natural. What's harder for some is to realize that even with his 'sound' being musical, it's still as, if not more detailed. It's a relaxed setting, unless the music has bite to it and you'll get that. What he lacks is that high end distortion called fatigue. His speakers are just planer fast because of the mid he builds. He's been able to do trickle down all the way to at least the 2's (I don't follow the 1's, but they have to have some of this trickle down). The newer 2's sound nothing like the 2's of the past. Personally, I'd sell off any of the 2's if I had them and get new ones as they are THAT freaking good right now. They don't embarrass themselves with top end Ayre gear. You can run them with high end electronics and you will hear the differences. It's almost hard to justify spending more than 2500k for a speaker (for 90% who can't). PSB and Paradigm are very polite speakers and nice for their cost. The B&W's in this range are ok, but not my cup of tea. There are smaller venders with speakers in this range, but I've yet to hear anything that can do all the 2 can do for the cost. I even checked out many of the used speakers today to see what you can get for the cost of a new pair of 2's and I'd rather have a new set that haven't been hammered, have a warrantee from a company who will be around and from a dealer who will come over and set them up for you so they sound their best. That's just me and my opinion. I"ve been to most of the stores in the country as I travel a lot and this is a passion of mine. next time in at Audio Connection in NJ, I"ll listen to the 1's with Rotel and NAD on them to see what my thoughts are, but I do have a buddy who has an older pair that he runs with NAD and swears by it. There is something missing when you cut the bass out like most monitors do to cut costs for a price point. I like that Richard gives you fuller sound so you don't feel like you are lacking things while listening , which most audiophiles do, lol. it's in our blood isn't it?
